Gwyneth Paltrow ironically slams superhero movies for lacking originality
Topics: Gwyneth Paltrow, Film and TV
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Credit - Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images/First We Feast/YouTube
Topics: Gwyneth Paltrow, Film and TV
Gwyneth Paltrow took a shot at the uptick in superhero movies in recent years - despite starring in them for over a decade.
Speaking on YouTube talk show Hot Ones, the Marvel star reflected on her long career and the movie making industry as a whole at the moment.
During the interview, host Sean Evans asked the star what she thought about the comments made by American Fiction director Cord Jefferson during the Oscars recently.
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For those who missed the Academy Award ceremony this year, during his acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay, Jefferson essentially implored studios to consider making ten smaller and cheaper movies rather than always going for the 'one $200 million' films.
In response, Paltrow said: “People put a lot of money into these things and they want them to be profitable, but I think if I look at the industry as a whole, the big push into superhero movies, you can only make so many good ones, that feel truly original."
However, there is a touch of irony as she did play Tony Stark's love interest, Pepper Potts, from 2008 until 2019.
But the actor not the only one to criticize the seemingly over saturation of superhero movies in Hollywood.
Director Martin Scorsese rather famously said that we needed to 'save cinema' from superhero movies.
"Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those—that’s what movies are.” he told GQ in 2023.
Superhero fatigue seems to be apparent among viewers as The Marvels brought in a pretty dismal opening weekend last year - at least for Marvel's standards.
Remember the hype you got when you saw Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man duke it out with Doc Ock, Chris Evans dole out tasks to the Avengers to save New York, or Christian Bale’s Batman interrogate the Joker?
And just last year, X-Men's First Class director, Matthew Vaughn, said we might 'all need a little time off' from the genre.
According to Paltrow, the issue is that superhero movies are 'always trying to reach as many people as possible which sometimes hinders quality or specificity or real point of view'.
The Talented Mr Ripley star continued: “I look back at some of the movies I made in the 90s and just think that wouldn’t get made now.”
She went on to say that studios opting for smaller budget movies could be a great thing as it will allow for a ‘greater diversity of art’ as there will be less money at stake.
She added: “People can then express their true voice and make a film they want to make it.
"I think those are genuinely the more resonate ones.”